‘Seeking knowledge is worship, so it is not allowed to leave it due to having a bad intention, because with time, seeking knowledge will guide you to goodness.’[3]

2 – Studying Knowledge

‘Being active and having high aspirations in our time is very deficient when compared to that which the Salaf were upon. Knowledge is present but it needs men to study the Book and the Sunnah deep into the night, morning and evening.’[4]

3 – Knowledge is an honour

AbdulAwal bin Hamad al-Ansaari said: ‘My father used to advise the students of knowledge a lot by saying: I advise you with having Taqwa of Allaah Ta’ala in secret and in the open, and with having a concern with knowledge, since indeed knowledge is an honour for its companion, Allaah the Master –Azza wa Jal- said:
< < It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allaah.>>[5].’[6]

4 – The Concern for Gathering Manuscripts

‘I paid great importance during my travels in gathering manuscripts of three sciences of knowledge:

a – knowledge of hadeeth
b – Knowledge of the narrators of hadeeth
c – The ‘Aqeedah of as-Salafeeyah especially those which have Asanad.’[7]

5 – Salafi Manuscripts

‘I had made it conditional upon Shaykh AbdulMuhsin al-Abbad during his administration of the Islaamic University of Madina an-Nabaweeyah that during my travels to acquire manuscripts that I only copy books of Hadeeth which have Asaneed (chains of narrations) and the ‘Aqeedah Salafeeyah.’[8]

6 – Stealing Manuscripts

‘Every time Europe would overcome a country from the Muslim countries, they would steal their heritage of manuscripts and other things, and they knew the importance of this heritage.’[9]

7 – Authoring Books

‘It is not befitting for a person to busy himself with authoring books at a young age, rather we should take the Salaf as-Salih as an example. One of them would write but not spread what he wrote, but rather he would keep it until he matured and became qualified for it. The Salaf would say: ‘Whoever authors then he has indeed opened himself up for criticism.’ and they would say: ‘Whoever authors then he has placed his intellect on a platter and presented it to the people.’ Some of them used to write something and then erase what they wrote. Shaafi’ee said: ‘I had wished that I had not written ‘ar-Risalah’. See how it is, I swear by Allaah that Shaafi’ee is qualified to write and author, however this is what al-Wara (being cautious) is, and following the truth. al-Hafidh al-Khateeb wrote about this subject, which is in his book ‘al-Jamia’ which is better and more complete.’[10]

8 – Translating Books

‘I have two conditions for a translator of books of knowledge from Arabic to other languages:

- That he is upon the ‘Aqeedah of the Salaf
- That he is precise and certain of the Arabic language and the language in which he is translating into.’[11]

9 – Giving a Verdict on a Hadeeth

‘Giving a verdict upon a hadeeth that it is Da’eef (Weak) is not pronounced except by an Imam who has lived his life researching into the knowledge of hadeeth. People today do not understand this issue, so they declare hadeeth to be weak by just researching one Isnaad, and this is a mistake, and Allaah knows best.’[12]

10 – Hastiness

‘It is necessary for a student of knowledge that he is not hasty.’[13]

11 – My handwriting

‘My handwriting in the beginning used to be exclusively of Kufi script, then I tried to change it to Farsi, and Farsi script is what is common now. The original script of Arabic was Kufi, and I have seen the handwriting of Ali bin Abi Talib -Radi Allaahu anhu- that I have in my possession, and his handwriting is Kufi script. The sentence which is written with his handwriting comprises of speech which the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam- dictated to Ali -Radi Allaahu anhu.’[14]

12 – Non-Arab Scholars

‘Knowledge of Hadeeth from the second century al-Hijra to the fifth was not given any service except by the non-Arab scholars from the Muslims. This phenomenon was spoken about by al-Hafidh Ibn Hajr in one of his books.’[15]
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[2] The statements here were taken from the biography of the Shaykh, which was compiled by the Shaykh’s son AbdulAwal bin Hamad al-Ansaari who is a teacher in the faculty of Hadeeth in the prestigious Islaamic University of Madina. The Collection is called: ‘al-Majmoo’ Fee Tarjama al-Allama al-Muhaddith ash-Shaykh Hamad bin Muhammad al-Ansaari -Rahimullaah- wa Seeratahi wa Aqwaalihi wa Rihlatihi’. It is a large two-volume collection of the sayings, wisdom and various biographies of the Shaykh. The statements in this translation are all from his son AbdulAwal unless stated otherwise.